PEW Report: Pollees Like Trump, But Doubt He Will Be Unifying

By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

Widespread concern surfaced, after a newly-released Pew Research Center report showed nearly half of all Americans are skeptical of Trump’s ability to unify the nation – but approve of him.

According to the new report released by the Pew Research Center, “roughly half of U.S. adults (53 percent) approve of his plans, while 46 percent disapprove.” But only 41 percent are confident that Trump will bring the country closer together. Fifty-nine percent told Pew researchers that they had “little or no confidence” that Trump would unify the nation or reach out to those who supported Kamala Harris in the election. However, the new Pew report, which surveyed 9,609 adults from Nov. 12 to 17, 2024, showed that Trump’s personal image is more positive than it was shortly after the 2020 or 2016 elections.

“When asked to indicate their feelings toward Trump on a ‘feeling thermometer’ ranging from 0 to 100, 43 percent give Trump a ‘very warm’ or ‘warm’ rating (between 51 and 100 on the 0-100 scale),” Pew researchers noted. “Somewhat more (48%) give Trump a ‘cold’ rating (below 50), including 40% who rate him ‘very cold’ (between 0 and 24).”

The number of Americans who rate Trump warmly today (43 percent) is higher than it was after the 2020 (34 percent) or the 2016 (36 percent) elections.

Yet, multiple organizations are sounding the alarm after the election, including female college students in Chicago and Wisconsin who say they are carrying around pepper spray on campus, and self-defense kits that include keychain spikes, a hidden knife key and a personal alarm, due to a spike in misogynistic rhetoric following the election.

AP VoteCast records show white men under 30 were solidly in Trump’s camp this year – about 6 in 10 voted for Trump – while young Latino men were split between the two candidates. Most Black men under 30 supported Democrat Kamala Harris, but about one-third were behind Trump. “Trump’s gains among young Latino and Black men were bigger,” the Associated Press noted in a Nov. 30 report. “His support among both groups increased by about 20 percentage points, according to AP VoteCast – and their feelings toward Trump got warmer, too.” AP VoteCast is a survey of more than 120,000 voters.

According to news reports, Isabelle Frances-Wright, director of technology and society at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank focusing on polarization and extremism, said she had seen a “very large uptick in a number of types of misogynistic rhetoric immediately after the election,” including some “extremely violent misogyny.”

For example, female students are seeing social media posts from males that say, “Your body, my choice.” Meanwhile, women on TikTok are seeing posts that say men should have control over or access to sex with women. Women have also received anonymous rape threats. Misogynistic attacks, which have been part of the social media landscape for years, are increasing, as well as language that glorifies violence against women or celebrates the possibility of their rights being stripped away has spiked since the election.

Women said they are also seeing threatening language such as “Get back in the kitchen” or “Repeal the 19th,” a reference to the constitutional amendment that gave women the right to vote. In the days surrounding the election, the top 10 posts on X calling for repeal of the 19th Amendment received more than 4 million views collectively.

Another group that expressed concerns around the time the new Pew report was released includes the Democratic Party that released a one-minute, Nov. 26 video that urged social media users to hold on to their “power” after Harris’ election loss to Trump. The video has received more than six million views

“I just have to remind you, don’t you ever let anybody take your power from you. you have the same power that you did before November 5, and you have the same purpose that you did, and you have the same ability to engage and inspire,” Harris said in the video. “So don’t ever let anybody or any circumstance take your power from you.”

The video is Harris’ first public address since her concession speech at Howard University following the election.